


Do You Trust Him?

by Wallwalker



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Community: fic_on_demand, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-23
Updated: 2010-01-23
Packaged: 2017-10-06 15:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a real strange question for her to ask him, Barret thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do You Trust Him?

"Do you trust him, Barret?"

Barret opened his eyes and looked over at Tifa, who was still sitting on the other side of the huge campfire. She was staring at him, her face utterly blank and her eyes filled with something he couldn't identify. Her injured leg was resting by the fire, and her good leg was curled up to her chest; she'd wrapped her arms around it and pulled it close to her. She looked oddly childlike in that pose, with the firelight flickering on her face and her long legs.

Barret looked away. Of all the questions she could've asked him... "Do I trust who?" he hedged. "That old guy? Sure I-"

"You know who I mean," she interrupted.

Yeah, he knew. That was why he didn't get it; why was she askin' _him_?

They were alone by the sacred fire, the one that the people in Cosmo Canyon always kept burning. Yuffie had run off a while ago, probably off to bother someone about martial arts or Materia. Then Cloud, Aeris and Red - or whoever the hell he was now - had gone off to some cave or another, something about Red's father... Barret might've gone, but he hadn't felt like fightin' any more that night, not when he'd finally come somewhere that felt like home. And Tifa had pushed herself too hard on the way there; her knee was botherin' her, and she needed to rest. Aeris had been fussing over it for almost the whole day, and Barret was real glad she'd listened to the other girl, especially 'cuz she didn't always listen to him.

And now Tifa was sittin' there and askin' him a question like that. He wanted to ignore it, or just say he didn't want to answer, but he and Tifa had been friends for years now. He had to tell her the truth; she deserved that much.

"No," he said slowly. "Guess I don't." He waited for a second after that, watching Tifa. He expected her to say something in the kid's defense, or at least to look ticked off about it. He didn't expect her to just sort of nod and keep watching him like she was waiting for him to finish.

"I mean, it ain't that he's weak. Kid's one hell of a fighter," he finally continued, when the silence got to be too much for him. "When he says he's got your back, he means it."

"So what is it?"

"It's... look, I dunno how to explain it right. But it's kinda like this." He stood up and stretched, and walked over to sit next to Tifa. She didn't object; she just kept watching him, staring at his face so hard that Barret found himself wondering what she was really seeing there. "When Marlene gets scared, she likes to fake it like she's not, you know? She thinks I ain't scared of anything, and that don't want her to be scared either. So she starts talkin' like me, puffin' herself up a little. It's kind of cute, 'slong as she watches her mouth."

Tifa smiled slightly. "I've seen her do that before when you were away. Once I had to threaten to wash her mouth out with soap."

"Yeah, see? She pretends she's somebody else so that she doesn't have to admit that _she's_ scared." He took a deep breath. "And that's... well, that's th' same feelin' I get from Cloud. Like he's pretendin' to be somebody else, and deep down inside he's so scared that he doesn't know up from down or right from wrong. And that means I can't trust 'im, 'cuz it's hard as hell to trust a guy who won't even tell you who he really is."

Tifa sighed and closed her eyes - she still didn't look angry, though. She just looked sad. "Thank you, Barret. I'm... I'm glad you told me the truth."

"I wouldn't lie to ya, Tifa. You know that." He patted her on the shoulder awkwardly. "But why'd you ask me somethin' like that? I thought you already knew."

"Yeah, I guess I did." She looked up at him and forced a wan smile. "I asked you because you're my friend, and I knew I could trust you. And I needed to know something else..."

Barret blinked. "What?"

"I needed to know if I was the only one who felt that way about him."


End file.
